


A Kiss From Your Lips

by cyberleviathan



Category: Happy Days
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Tag, Ficlet Collection, First Kiss, Kissing, M/M, Making Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 12:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15751287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyberleviathan/pseuds/cyberleviathan
Summary: Five times Richie and Fonzie might have kissed.





	1. The Deadly Dares

**Author's Note:**

> First three segments take place in seasons 1 and 2, when Richie is 17, but nothing untoward happens.

There’s a cute blonde at the sock hop that Fonzie had never seen before. She was probably new in town. She looked embarrassed to be there, up against the wall like she was trying to blend into the paintjob. Someone had to show her a good time, maybe pull her out of her shell, and who better than the Fonz?

So he walked up to her and got her attention with a “Wallflower, let’s dance.” He took her by the hand and led her onto the dance floor. She avoided looking at his face, but she let him embrace her and rested her chin on his shoulder as they began to sway together.

She was stiff as a board at first, but eventually loosened up a little, settling against him as they slow-danced. Now was his chance. He blew a stream of warm air into her ear.

She shivered and turned her head in Fonzie’s direction, and Fonzie took the opportunity to kiss her. She wasn’t spectacular or anything, but she kissed back, hesitantly at first, then more intensely.

Fonzie pulled away to whisper into her ear “What do you say we ditch this place and head up to Inspiration Point?”

“I don’t think Potsie would appreciate me running out on him.”

Fonzie’s eyes shot open. He knew that voice.

He looked at her face in the light for the first time.

It was Cunningham. Same big blue eyes, same high cheekbones, same guileless expression. The makeup was surprisingly well-applied - maybe his mommy had helped him out.

“It’s part of the initiation,” Richie said. “Did you know -“

“Don’t be stupid,” Fonzie interrupted. He let go and stepped away. Nobody was looking, thank God, they were too busy dancing themselves. “Course I knew it was you. I was just helping you out.”

Richie’s eyebrows furrowed. “Then why did you -“ He trailed off, pointing at his lips.

Fonzie shrugged, not looking at Richie. “Just messing with you.”

Richie seemed to accept that. He nodded and cast his eyes to the ground. Had his eyelashes always been that long? No, he was wearing mascara. Jeez, the guy didn’t do anything by half, did he?

Fonzie turned to the nearest girl and pulled her onto the dance floor. Richie watched them, only leaving when Fonzie glared at him.


	2. The Best Man

“You ever thought about getting married?” Richie asked as he and Fonzie started packing up the chairs.

Richie half meant it as a joke - he can’t really imagine the Fonz settling down, though he is a little curious as to whether Fonzie has considered it.

He figured Fonzie would laugh it off, not set his chair down and look at him thoughtfully.  
”Cunningham, I’m flattered, but let’s not rush into this.”

Richie’s face turned red as the...implications of his phrasing sank in. His first instinct was to apologize, or backtrack, or just pretend it never happened and get back to packing up the chairs.

But Fonzie didn’t look uncomfortable or angry or anything like that. He looked...amused.

Richie grinned. He could play along.

“Well, when you know, you know.”

If Fonzie was surprised, he didn’t show it. “You think your parents will approve?”

“Maybe not at first. But they’ll come around. They’ll like you as much as I do.”

“Church wedding?”

“We could have it here. It’d be cozy.”

“Honeymoon?”

“I hear California’s nice this time of year.”

“Got it all figured out, huh?”

Had Fonzie been standing this close to Richie the whole time? Was Richie imagining Fonzie’s tongue flicking over his bottom lip? Was he about to...?

Neither of them moved. So he wasn’t, and Richie supposed that made sense. This was just fooling around, within reason.

He started to move away to get the chair, right as Fonzie did, and their lips brushed together.

It lasted less than a second. Richie wasn’t sure if it was an accident or on purpose or halfway between the two, but either way it made his chest tighten and made his heart beat so hard he could hear it.

Fonzie looked as cool-headed as ever as he picked a chair up, so maybe it had been an accident.

He turned back to look at Richie. “You coming?”

Richie followed behind, face still red and heart pounding away. “Yeah, Fonz.”


	3. You Go To My Head

“You plant one right on her,” Fonzie said, looking up at Richie from his motorcycle. “Clears up your head.”

Richie didn’t look convinced. “Oh, I don’t know.”

“Rich. You want to go swimming, you don’t stay on the beach, right? You jump in the water. It’s the same thing. You plunge in with both lips.”

Richie glanced down thoughtfully, as a girl came out of Arnold’s. Fonzie gestured for Richie to look behind him, and Richie jogged up to her. Then he stopped, turned around, and walked back to Fonzie.

Fonzie shook his head. “You’re not very good at taking advice -“

Richie grabbed him by the jacket and kissed him. It was awkward and sloppy and desperate and their noses bumped together, and then it was over.

Richie let go and stumbled back, grinning giddily, eyes shining and lips pink. It wasn’t a bad look on him - at least he lost that nervous hangdog expression he had for the last couple of days.

He licked his lips and glanced at the ground, then back up at Fonzie.

Fonzie didn’t move. Not because he had been caught off-guard and had no idea what to do next. He was just giving Richie time to think about what he had just done. Obviously, he wasn’t in his right mind. Maybe he’d been on to something about being crazy.

Richie’s face and neck and ears were rapidly turning red, but he didn’t look embarrassed at all, just happy and content.

“You were right,” he said. “That really helped.”

As he walked away, Fonzie could have sworn there was a swing in his hips that hadn’t been there before.


	4. A Mind of His Own

As they left Arnold's for the empty parking lot, carrying what had once been a birdhouse, Richie said "I appreciate it, you know."

Fonzie glanced at him. “Care to be more specific?”

“That you waited for me. Like you - you care what I think or something. You didn’t have to do that and I appreciate it, is all.”

Fonzie looked at him blankly. The next thing Richie knew, Fonzie had grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

“You think I would have been building birdhouses if I didn’t care what you thought?”

For a split second, Richie thought he saw something - vulnerable in Fonzie. It was gone as soon as he noticed it, and he thought he might have imagined it, or misinterpreted it.

Fonzie let go and walked towards his motorcycle, and Richie followed him.

“Fonz, look at me,” Richie said quietly.

When Fonzie didn’t respond, Richie asked, slightly more loudly, “Fonz, would you look at me? Please?”

It was the please that did it. Fonzie turned to look Richie in the eye, and Richie suddenly forgot what he was going to say.

So instead, he reached out and took Fonzie by the hand that wasn’t holding the demolished birdhouse.

Fonzie raised an eyebrow in surprise, but he didn’t stop Richie as he lightly brushed against a callus, or as he laced their fingers together until they were undeniably holding hands.

Fonzie looked at Richie, a little amused and a little expectant - Richie just wasn’t sure what he was expecting. If he was a girl, this was probably the part where Richie would kiss her. Without entirely thinking it through, Richie leaned over and did just that.

Fonzie didn’t push Richie away, like Richie half-expected him to, or pull back; if anything, his grip on Richie’s hand tightened and he pulled Richie in, until Richie was leaning against Fonzie and Fonzie was leaning against his bike. Richie let himself relax and sigh against Fonzie, his mouth opening a little, and Fonzie slid his tongue against Richie’s upper lip.

Richie audibly gasped, and Fonzie pulled away. For a moment, Richie was terrified that he’d done something wrong, but Fonzie kept a tight, comforting grip on his hand.

“You want to take this somewhere more private?”

Richie smiled so widely it almost hurt, and Fonzie kissed him lightly before pulling him towards his bike.


	5. Chachi Sells His Soul

“That’s Mata Hari,” Melvin said as a gorgeous woman appeared where he had just been standing. “She’s my favorite spy.”

“Mata Hari?” Richie repeated in disbelief.

“Martha Harry?” Fonzie said. “I never heard of her.”

Richie turned around and tried to get Fonzie’s attention. It half-worked; Fonzie’s haze kept flickering between Richie and Mata Hari.

He moved towards her, and Richie blocked him once, twice, three times. Fonzie relented, but Richie knew he wasn’t going to give up that easily, even with his soul on the line.

Without warning, Richie threw himself at Fonzie and slammed their lips together. Fonzie made a surprised noise that was only somewhat muffled by Richie’s mouth covering his.

Richie was no slouch, and he had the element of surprise, which was probably why Fonzie was letting him get away with this. He leaned into Fonzie with all his weight, gripping him by the arms, anything to keep Fonzie’s focus on him and not the gorgeous woman right in front of him.

Eventually, though, he has to break away to breathe. Fonzie didn’t look particularly out of breath, or even all that surprised, though all things considered Richie jumping him probably wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen that day. And he wasn’t looking at Mata Hari, he was looking at Richie and licking his lips.

Richie barely registered Melvin shouting something at Fonzie, who looked up at him with an almost amused expression.

“You said I had to go twenty-four hours without a woman’s lips touching me.” He pointed at Richie. “He is not a woman.”

Richie turned to look at Melvin and nodded. “It’s true. Ask anyone.”

“Well, let’s see if your friend is more distracting than -“

Richie threw himself back on top of Fonzie. This time, he managed to push him into one of the booths, which was marginally more comfortable than necking while standing up, and also let Richie straddle Fonzie as he licked into his mouth.

Mata Hari and Salome exchanged confused looks. Melvin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Damn loopholes...”


End file.
